Skagway street scene, 1898

By 1898, Skagway, Alaska, had a busy business district which sold goods and services to people leaving for the Klondike gold fields.This photo shows downtown Skagway in 1898. Businesses which can be seen in the photo include drugstores, outfitters, an agency for hiring packers to carry one's supplies along the trail, a hardware store and tinsmith, and several saloons. Two women stand in the middle of the dirt steet, surrounded by passing wagons.